Isolation and characterization of two mouse Pi-class glutathione S-transferase genes

Pi-class glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play an important role in the detoxification of chemical toxins and mutagens and are implicated in neoplastic development and drug resistance. In all species characterized to date, only one functional Pi-class GST gene has been described. In this report we have identified two actively transcribed murine Pi-class GST genes, Gst p-1 and Gst p-2. The coding regions of Gst p-1 and the mouse Pi-class GST cDNA (GST-II) reported by Hatayama, Satoh and Satoh (1990) (Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 4606) are identical, whereas Gst p-2 encodes a protein that has not been described previously. The two genes are approximately 3 kb long and contain seven exons interrupted by six introns. In addition to a TATA box and a sequence motif matching the phorbol-ester-responsive element, the promoters of Gst p-1 and Gst p-2 exhibit one and two G+C boxes (GGGCGG) respectively. The cDNAs of the two genes were isolated from total liver RNA using reverse PCR. The peptide sequence deduced from the cDNAs share 97% identity and differ in six amino acids. Both genes are transcribed at significantly higher levels in male mouse liver than in female, and Gst p-1 mRNA is more abundant in both sexes than Gst p-2.